BAGHDAD -- The head of Care International appeared on Arabic television to plead for the release of the aid agency's Iraqi director.
Secretary General Denis Cailloux called Margaret Hassan "a humanitarian who has lived in Iraq for 30 years and has worked for the past 13 years to secure better health and water and sanitation for the people of Iraq," the BBC reports.
His plea was broadcast Friday by Al Jazeera, which earlier showed a videotape of a sobbing Hassan begging the British government to save her life by pulling troops out of the country.
Hassan is married to an Iraqi and holds triple citizenship in Ireland, Great Britain and Iraq.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that the Hassan tape was "extremely distressing" and asked Iraqis to join his government in calling for her release.
Felicity Armstrong, a freelance journalist and friend of Hassan, told the BBC that she is a woman "who is frightened of nothing."
"She is a very tough lady and if she is crying on this video - I haven't been able to steel myself to look at it yet - that is really bad," Armstrong said.
